Businessman too scared to go home after brutal assault at KL condo
FMT Reporters
-August 27, 2019 11:53 AM
https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2019/08/27/businessman-too-scared-to-go-home-after-brutal-assault-at-kl-condo/
KUALA LUMPUR: After being in hospital for 10 days, assault victim Bernard Jeyapalan is afraid to go home.
He has been recovering well and can move about easily enough on his own, but the thought of going home scares him, more than a week after he was brutally beaten up at the clubhouse of the condominium apartment building where he lives.
“I’m living in fear there, I don’t want to go back. My wife too is living in fear. There is no more security for us,” said Bernard who underwent surgery on his jaw and received some 72 stitches.
The attack happened on Aug 15, when Bernard, 47, a highway contractor, was watching television at the clubhouse he runs at the Bukit OUG Condominium.
Three men came “out of the blue”, speaking in Tamil, and rained punches and kicks on him, he said.
They accused him of being a “gangster”, asking why he was stopping others from running a business there.
These are allegations he strongly denies.
In shocking CCTV footage sighted by FMT, Bernard’s business partner can be seen trying to intervene. However, he is punched by one of the men and retreats.
Bernard said the attackers also used an ashtray, a pair of scissors and a snooker cue during the assault which lasted 18 minutes. He suffered a fractured jaw, cuts on his head and back, and bruises on other parts of his body.
At one point, he ran to the clubhouse bar but was assaulted again.
“They stabbed me, they took off my shirt and asked me to put my hands on the ground and beg. I put my hands down and they started taking photos of me. They whacked me some more and tried to take off my pants.”
Businessman Bernard Jeyapalan is still in hospital, afraid to go home after being brutally attacked.Bernard said he resisted but the men threatened to break his leg with a snooker cue if he didn’t take off his trousers. They also threatened to kill his family if he reported the incident to the police.
“At that moment I was scared. I told them I would not make a police report.
“They continued to whack me, whacking and whacking until the police came and they stopped.”
One of his assailants ran away, while another two were detained by the police who had been informed of the situation by a friend of Bernard.
Bernard said he no longer has faith in the security arrangements at the condominium building as his assailants had passed through the security check to get to the clubhouse.On the day of the incident, security guards turned up only after the police came, said Bernard.
He said he still does not know why he was attacked, but had seen one of the assailants around the condominium building before.
TheSun earlier quoted Cheras police chief Mohamed Mokhsein Mohamed Zon as saying that two men were arrested for investigation under Section 148 of the Penal Code for rioting.
But Bernard said it was clear from the CCTV footage that he was assaulted.
He has asked his lawyer to look into the matter.
FMT has contacted the Cheras police for further comment on the case.
